Amid a resurgence of religious fervor in China, the Communist government is heightening its repression of believers with mass arrests, torture and "re-education" of Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, followers of the outlawed Falun Gong sect and others, witnesses told the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on Thursday.

Still recuperating from a trek across the Himalayas to escape Chinese-ruled Tibet, a teenage Buddhist leader was all smiles Saturday after a visit with the Dalai Lama. The 17th Karmapa, wearing a dark brown monk's robe and light orange scarf, grinned as he walked easily from the gate of the Dalai Lama's house to a yellow car.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom says religious repression in China has worsened over the past weeks with the sentencing of several Falun Gong and Christian leaders to prison. Since the new year began, more than 100 practitioners of the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement have been detained, according to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democratic Movement, based in Hong Kong.

A Tibetan lama's dramatic escape from China this week appeared to dash whatever hopes remained for a compromise between Beijing and Tibet's traditional Buddhist leadership. The 17th Karmapa, a 14-year-old boy who occupies one of the most exalted positions in Tibetan Buddhism, arrived in the northern Indian city of Dharamsala with blistered feet and bloodied hands from an arduous trek through the Himalayas to join thousands of fellow Tibetans in exile.

In the first trial targeting the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement, China fired a warning shot toward the group's members Friday by sentencing four of its lower-level officials to prison terms of up to 12 years. Regional leader Song Yuesheng received the longest sentence, for "using a cult to violate the law" and for trying to escape from police custody, a Hainan court official told the Reuters news agency. Three other defendants were sentenced to seven, three and two years in prison.

Authorities have sentenced more than 500 people to labor camps in the latest crackdown on the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, a human rights group reported Sunday. The Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China reported that the sentences were handed down to Falun Gong members from Hebei, a northern province bordering Beijing. It cited unidentified sources. The Chinese government banned Falun Gong in July.

After a week in which hundreds of members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement defied China's security apparatus by silently demonstrating in Tiananmen Square, the two sides appear stuck in an uneasy standoff. Beijing's claims of victory in smashing the movement and getting its followers to abandon their faith are at best premature. But Falun Gong disciples' optimism that the protests can overturn the government ban on the group seems equally unrealistic.

Leaders of the banned Falun Gong meditation sect made a fortune through illegal publication of the group's books and tapes, Chinese government-controlled media reported in Beijing. The reports said millions of tapes and books were sold illegally, enriching founder Li Hongzhi, who lives in exile in New York, and his top assistants in China. Li has denied that he amassed wealth from Falun Gong. Police say the group's leaders made $4.

The United States released a report on religious freedom worldwide Thursday, concluding that much of the world's population lives in countries in which religious freedoms are restricted. Many of the countries faulted, including China, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, regularly show up on the annual U.S. list of overall human rights abusers. But the report also criticized some U.S. allies, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, for intolerance.

China vowed Tuesday to punish leading members of the outlawed meditation group Falun Gong, in the strongest indication yet that the group's organizers will be prosecuted. An order issued by the executive offices of the ruling Communist Party's Central Committee and the State Council, or cabinet, outlined ways government work teams pressing a crackdown against Falun Gong are to treat the group's practitioners.